Storm blows out power and floods roads

More than 9,000 Nova Scotia Power customers were without electricity Sunday morning after a night of high wind and heavy rain.

Several roads are closed in New Brunswick due to flooding.

The N.S. Power outages map shows dark patches concentrated around the Bedford-Fall River area, with other pockets from Liverpool to Cheticamp. A total of 9,082 customers are out as of 8:39 a.m. Estimated restoration times range from 11:30 a.m. in the Halifax area to 4 p.m. in the New Glasgow area.

By 11 a.m., only 4,016 customers were still without power.

High winds and heavy rain are being blamed for all of the outages. A utility pole caught fire in the Burnside Industrial Park, resulting in Isley Avenue being closed.

A driver in New Brunswick was stuck in his car overnight. Paul Jamer was driving from Fredericton to Perth-Andover when icy conditions forced vehicles off the road. They were unable to continue the journey until Sunday morning.

He learned to be ready for such delays during winter storms. "It's not too bad if you've got lots of fuel, I guess. The one thing I would caution drivers to do is have some water. I went basically an 18-hour period without anything to quench my thirst," he said Sunday.

Fewer than 100 people are without power in New Brunswick. Saint John has seen flooding and the city has closed Rothsay Avenue, Paradise Row, Simpson Drive and FairvilleBoulevard.

Four men were rescued in the city's Partridge Island. The men had walked over the breakwater to the island, but got stuck when the weather worsened. Fire crews got them off the island and they were treated for hypothermia.

The community of Riverside Albert, just south of Moncton, is under a boil water order Sunday morning because heavy rains overwhelmed the water-treatment systems. The order affects about 350 people and could last until mid-week.